


Surprise

by FreckledSkittles



Series: Barisi Is Married and Happy Because I Said So [10]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Canon Era, Episode: s21e11 She Paints for Vengeance, Fluff, M/M, Married Barisi, Married Couple, Reunions, because I said so, lawyer husbands in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:07:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23652814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreckledSkittles/pseuds/FreckledSkittles
Summary: “I only have one week left,” Rafael points out softly.“I couldn’t wait that long,” Sonny chuckles.Rafael just laughs and kisses the tip of his nose. “You’re getting better at keeping secrets.”Or: Sonny misses Rafael while he's in Iowa and he goes to visit.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Series: Barisi Is Married and Happy Because I Said So [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1405030
Comments: 22
Kudos: 67
Collections: April 2020 Barisi Bingo





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling anxious last night and asked myself how I should solve it and my brain said "Barisi" so I wrote this lmao
> 
> I would have made this earlier in Rafael's time in Iowa but I wanted that banter about Rafael wishing Olivia a happy birthday because "I wanted to be the first" is so painfully Rafael like. Rafael Barba is That Bitch ya know  
> Also Sonny is dramatic enough to miss his husband so much that he goes the week before he's supposed to return home just so he can see him even though there were so many other weekends he could have gone but he didn't want to see them as badly then like wow Sonny this is so unnecessary but I get it
> 
> This is the first fic for the Barisi Bingo event (check out the Barisi Fiction Archive on Tumblr and Twitter thanks love you) but it is not the first one I'm writing! In fact, it's the fourth one, because the others are taking me too long and idk which one to write and I'M HAVING A DILEMMA they're all so good how do I choose
> 
> Anyway ahem I hope you enjoy this fic and the cuddly husbands  
> also this is totally canon what do you mean it didn't happen

Once again, Sonny looks up at the sound of the front doors to the Des Moines hotel sliding open, and once again, the person is not who he’s looking for and he sags into the cushions. If he knew the number of the hotel room, he would be waiting for his husband, even if it would risk scaring him half to death and risking a sharp slap to the face and a well-aimed elbow. Rafael always knew how to aim that thing.

It had taken Sonny a bit of pleading to leave early on Friday and surprise his husband, who had been working in Iowa to investigate corruption in the upcoming election. Sonny was incredibly proud of him for it, but it meant they would be separated until at least a few days after the state’s election was held. It was still unclear if he would have to return in November, but Sonny was preparing for at least two weeks’ separation if that were to happen.

Sonny checks his phone—just Amanda with a video of Billie patting Frannie on the head while repeatedly chanting “pup” and many photos of Bella’s daughter Stella holding her baby brother—and the texts soothe his jittery nerves. He had asked the hotel staff if he could wait for his husband and had gotten an all-clear to wait, but he wanted Rafael to be surprised to see him. The only people he had told about his weekend Des Moines getaway was SVU—Olivia had been checking on him every hour earlier in the day, complete with update demands from Fin and Amanda—and Mike Dodds—even as Homicide Lieutenant, he needed an update on his best friend and his self-proclaimed favorite couple. His family didn’t technically count since it had been a few years since he hadn’t considered Rafael part of that group, but his sisters and parents needed to know why he wouldn’t be present on Sunday for Mass and dinner.

Sonny is still looking at his phone when the doors open and there’s a familiar gasp that breaks the dull silence. His head shoots up to see a genuinely surprised and overwhelmingly excited Rafael walking quickly over. Sonny discards his phone in the seat behind him and can barely get out a “hi” before Rafael is wrapping his arms around his neck and falling into him. Sonny holds him close, hands curling in the back of his shirt, and nuzzles his face into his neck.

He still smells like books and coffee, surrounding his senses and clogging his nose. His lower back is still so sensitive, proven in the way Rafael curls under his hands and his back arches into him and his breath hitches at the end of a long exhale. The sound of his Spanish—“I’ve missed you,” he recites; “I can’t believe you’re here,” he whispers; “I love you,” he smiles—is still rhythmic and enchanting, spurring bursts of affection inside Sonny’s chest. He fills the space between his arms as much as his heart sits between his lungs, safe and beating and real and, god, he’s missed Rafael. They can survive without each other, distance isn’t foreign to them, but that doesn’t make it any easier for them.

“Surprise,” Sonny says. Rafael chuckles into his shoulder and burrows his face further into the juncture of Sonny’s neck. “I hope you didn’t make plans for the weekend.”

“If I did, they’re canceled,” Rafael huffs. He moves back so he can look at him. Sonny falls into sparkling green and that smile he gives when he’s especially glad, his eyes crinkling at the corners and his nose scrunched. Rafael once said that Sonny brought so much happiness out of him that he could only react in a way that was equally as unique as the feelings he felt inside. No one else got the privilege or the honor to see such radiating happiness. Sonny just sealed his response with a kiss, grabbing Rafael’s (at the time, bare) face and melted into him.

That doesn’t sound like a bad idea right now. Especially when he gets to feel that thick beard between his hands and ground him into the moment.

“I only have one week left,” Rafael points out softly.

“I couldn’t wait that long,” Sonny chuckles.

Rafael just laughs and kisses the tip of his nose. “You’re getting better at keeping secrets.”

Sonny rolls his eyes and connects their lips. The kiss still feels the same. Rafael still tastes like coffee and the barest hint of chocolate. Sonny grabs hold of either side of his face—the beard feels even better than he imagined, all coarse hair neatly trimmed and even across his face—and sighs deeply. He used to think there was no feeling better than kissing Rafael, holding him close, enjoying the proximity and the moment they share. And then they got married.

“How’d you do it?” Rafael asks, caught between pressing closer against him and leaning back to look at him. “I would have bet money that New York County’s newest ADA would have been unavailable.”

“He wasn’t available,” Sonny grins. “I heard he was in Iowa.”

Rafael pinches his arm playfully. “That joke is old and you know it.” His eyes wander up to Sonny’s coif, fallen from the style he crafted hours ago and just starting to curve over his forehead, and runs a hand through the soft strands of dark blond that is all but replaced with gray. “Are there more streaks? I feel like there wasn’t this much.”

“It’s just the style, don’t worry.” Sonny ducks his head and steals another kiss. Rafael leans in for more when he moves away, pouting when it vanishes. “I have just as many from the last time you counted. I’m still spry.”

“Mm. That makes you sound sixty years older.” Rafael fluffs the ends just a bit, enough to spread it over his forehead in curvy tresses, and the look of bliss that crosses his face is mesmerizing. Sonny would surprise him every weekend if he could. “Seriously, though. How did you manage to get here?”

“I switched up a few arraignments and made sure all my open cases were either covered by someone else, closed, or with co-counsel so I wasn’t missing anything. And I made sure the squad had other lawyers to rely on if they needed help with a case.”

“As much as I’m sure you would love to help them, Mister Rogers, I don’t think Iowa has enough jurisdiction, if any, in Manhattan.”

“Not with that attitude.” Sonny winks; Rafael throws his head back and laughs. It sounds much better in person than over the phone or video chat. “But if you want me to hold off on that, I can.”

Rafael perks up and hums. “Oh? Are there more surprises?”

“Maybe.” That face between his legs, the beard scratching over his thighs. Legs tangled together. Holding each other tenderly and drinking in every second of their weekend. They could do everything and anything, as long as they can do it together, and Sonny would be fulfilled for the week until Rafael returns to him. “Maybe I just wanted to surprise you and leave.”

“Hilarious. For once, I’ll embrace my alleged koala nickname,” Rafael wraps his arms around Sonny and squeezes, hands digging into his lower back, right above the waistband of his pants, “and keep you here.”

“Here? In this lobby?” Sonny gazes at the gaudy art on the wall and the sofas that look more like a piece of decoration than furniture designed for comfort. “Iowa ruined your taste.”

“I won’t be looking at it.”

Sonny’s eyes return to Rafael—how could he not? Looking so content, so pleased, gaze soft and tender and fixed on Sonny with such intense adoration, his chest pangs. Sonny loves him. He wants to say it until his throat is sore, yell it for everyone to know, keep it between them in whispers under the covers and snuggles in the middle of the night.

“C’mon,” Rafael moves out of his arms—taking the warmth with him—and grabs his hands. Still so perfect together, just a glide of palms and a squeeze. “I want to see your surprises.”

“Good,” Sonny grins, bending down to pick up his suitcase, “I have plenty.”

Rafael smirks. “Enough for the whole weekend?”

“For as long as you want.”

“Good. I never want it to end.”

* * *

Later, when they just look at each other and share warmth under the thick white sheets the hotel provides, Sonny will trace little heart patterns into Rafael’s arm and thank whoever is listening that he ended up with such a wonderful man to lay beside him and love him without hesitation. Rafael will run his hands through Sonny’s hair and wonder how he got so lucky to have a man this fine and this kind and this perfect with him. And even if they have two days before Sonny leaves Rafael in Iowa to a litany of kisses and longing touches that beg for more, it’s worth a weekend surprise and the promise of more when Rafael returns home next week.

“I wished Olivia a happy birthday.”

“That’s not for a few more days.”

“I wanted to be first.”

“Of course you did. This isn’t a competition.”

“It is when Rollins somehow manages to beat both of us out. Seriously, I thought we were working together on this.”

Sonny just laughs and pulls him closer, arms wrapped tight around him and meeting him halfway for a searing kiss that is everything they missed and everything they can hope to have in the future.


End file.
